


I See The Light

by IsaacTheGreat69



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Disney Songs, Human AU, M/M, Patton's mentioned like once, i guess, self deprecation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-05 19:37:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15870363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IsaacTheGreat69/pseuds/IsaacTheGreat69
Summary: Based on the prompt: I always hear you singing on your balcony (below mine) every morning, but suddenly you’ve stopped?





	I See The Light

_“I have often dreamed of a far off place_  
Where a great, warm welcome would be waiting for me  
Where the crowds would cheer, when they see my face  
And a voice keeps saying this is where I'm meant to be”  


_Virgil’s ears perked up as he listened through the open glass door to his balcony. It sounded like his neighbor was singing again. It was almost always a Disney song, sometimes just a sappy romantic love song. Today it seemed to be the former. Virgil found himself turning his TV off and wandering onto his balcony, sitting in the lone chair and listening to the smooth voice of his neighbor below._

_“I know ev'ry mile will be worth my while_  
I would go most anywhere to feel like I belong  
I am on my way, I can go the distance  
I don't care how far, somehow I'll be strong”  


_Virgil thought about the melancholy undertones to this song, and he wondered if the singer thought of the same things when he sang this song. Virgil somehow doubted it; the man didn’t seem like the type to be cynical or a pessimist. It was just as well, he thought, because if the other was then he probably wouldn’t be singing Disney every morning on his balcony. Virgil would miss that, though how could you miss something if it never started in the first place?_

That was two months ago. Virgil sat on his couch, the glass door open like it was every morning, but he hadn’t heard that smooth and charismatic voice in a month and a half. He found himself hoping today he’d hear it, that the other had simply been sick, or on a trip, not... Whatever this was. Was he sick of singing? Did he get self-conscious? Did he sing inside, with the door closed now? Had he realized that Virgil sat outside listening to him and gotten creeped out? God, he hoped not. Virgil picked at the seam poking out of the arm of his shitty thrift-store couch; his token nervous habit. His neighbor was probably singing in his apartment where he wouldn’t be stalked by strangers. 

Yet... Virgil couldn’t help being worried about him. He wanted to make sure the other wasn’t seriously injured or something. But he couldn’t just... Go downstairs and knock on his door, could he? He shakes his head, knocking his headphones crooked off his left ear. He stands, making sure his phone is still in his pocket before heading into his room and grabbing a piece of paper and looking around for some kind of string before finding an old pair of sneakers and grinning. He didn’t wear them anymore because the bottoms were so worn his sole was peaking out at the front, but he didn’t want to throw them out because they had drawings all over them. He picks them up, takes the shoelaces out and ties them together, then grabs a sharpie and heads back to the couch. 

Virgil taps the sharpie against his bottom lip in thought for a good few minutes, every idea quickly being discarded. 

_Too stupid._

_Too weird._

_That’s just creepy._

_Is that too suggestive or something?_

Finally he settles for   _I always hear you singing on your balcony (below mine) every morning, but you’ve stopped. Are you okay?_ then he gently pokes a hole in the paper and loops the shoelace through it, walking onto his balcony and lowering the paper until it’s dangling about head-height in front of the balcony below his. He ties the end he’s still holding to the railing of his balcony, makes sure the paper is still there, then goes back inside, shutting his door. He takes out his phone and checks the time, then makes himself a late breakfast before heading to work.

* * *

 

When Virgil comes home that night, he’s virtually forgotten about his downstairs neighbor, the singing, and his note. He flops down onto the couch with a tired sigh, rubbing his face as he searches for the remote and puts on Steven Universe. He goes into the kitchen and heats up some leftover spaghetti before sitting back in his spot and eating silently. He fucking loves Garnet, wow. Just. Queen. He’s partway into his third episode of the night when someone knocks on his door, and for a moment he thinks he’s just hearing things, or maybe there’s rats in the walls, so he ignores it. When it happens again a moment later, he glances over at his door, his chest feeling a little funny. 

No one ever knocks on his door. No one ever comes to pay him a visit. Not even his old college-roomy-turned-friend Patton knows where he lives. Virgil hesitantly gets up, setting the long-empty plate on the couch and slowly making his way to the door. There’s the sound of shuffling on the other end, and whoever’s on the other side starts knocking again just as Virgil gets there. He ignores the voice in his head telling him to  _just leave it, it’s a stranger, it could be a robber_  and opens the door. Standing in the hallway with his fist raised in the air is a stranger,  looking mildly surprised in possibly the weirdest outfit Virgil has ever seen someone wear outside of a movie set - I mean, seriously? A prince outfit? And what’s with the sash? - and perfectly styled hair. The stranger quickly composes himself, lowering his hand and smiling warmly at Virgil, who’s openly staring and feeling increasingly awkward in his black sweats and My Chemical Romance shirt. 

“So ah..” Virgil’s eyes widen. Oh shit. Oh fuck. It’s the guy that lives below him. Virgil mentally kicks himself; what did he expect to happen? The mystery singer would write a note back and they’d just become best friends, communicating through a shoelace and a piece of paper? And now he was here to yell at Virgil, to tell him what a creep he was and demand he leave him be. The singer rubs the back of his neck a little awkwardly, holding Virgil’s note in the other hand and glancing at him with slight embarrassment (why is he embarrassed?). “I found your note...” 

Virgil nods mutely. He can’t get his voice to work, can’t bring himself to speak to this embarrassingly attractive - if strange - man before him. The singer doesn’t seem to have a problem carrying the conversation, though. “I hadn’t realized anyone could actually hear me. I mean, not that I mind, after all I’m used to singing in front of crowds, but... I’m sorry I worried you, I’m alright.” He flashes Virgil a megawatt smile, and Virgil has to look down at the dingy carpet between their feet. 

“That... That’s good to hear.” He mumbles, picking at the hem of his hoodie sleeve. “Why... Why’d you stop?” Virgil didn’t know why he asked. He shouldn’t have asked, that was stupid, it wasn’t any of his business. The singer didn’t seem angry though. “Oh! Well you see, I got the lead in a musical - I don’t want to overdo it and cause vocal fatigue before we’ve even made it to tech week!” So that explained the clothes, he guessed. “I’m Roman.” The man, Roman, holds out his hand, and Virgil takes it with a light grip, surprised when Roman returns it with one five times as sure and shakes it. “Ah... Virgil.” Roman’s smile brightens at that and he nods. “A handsome name! If you wouldn’t mind me being so forward, Virgil, would you like to accompany me to dinner?” 

Virgil’s heart sinks a little bit. He had such bad timing. “Oh, I uh... I just ate.” 

Roman is undeterred. “Coffee, then!”

Virgil bites his lip, studying Roman’s face. This wasn’t all some elaborate plan to make Virgil feel comfortable around him before tearing into him... was it? Virgil shook his head; he was being ridiculous. “Yeah, coffee sounds good.” 

“Excellent!” Roman holds his arm out and Virgil flushes slightly, grabbing his wallet and keys beside the door and hooking his other arm with Roman’s before locking his door behind him. “You know, shouting puts stress on your vocal folds too.” Roman laughs, the sound full and hearty, entirely contagious (but Virgil manages to just smile). “I suppose you have a point. However!” He flourishes with his free arm. “I am a performer, I cannot be subdued!” Virgil rolls his eyes, but his smile doesn’t leave for the rest of the night.

* * *

 

Virgil leans on the railing of his balcony, watching the sun finish rising in the sky. He wasn’t usually one for waking up insanely early, but he supposed dating Roman meant some of his habits would rub off on him. He found a smile forming on his lips and the strange urge to sing. What was it he’d just said about habits?

_“All those days watching from the windows_  
All those years outside looking in  
All that time never even knowing  
Just how blind I've been

_“Now I'm here blinking in the starlight_  
Now I'm here suddenly I see  
Standing here it's all so clear  
I'm where I'm meant to be”

Virgil blushes slightly, thinking of the day he’d really met Roman. That blindingly-bright smile directed at him. And it always had been, since that night. 

_“And at last I see the light_  
And it's like the fog has lifted  
And at last I see the light  
And it's like the sky is new  
And it's warm and real and bright  
And the world has somehow shifted  
All at once everything looks different  
Now that I see you”

Virgil hears the door to Roman’s balcony open, and he sucks in a breath. Roman’s never heard him sing, what if he thought he was bad at it? Roman was so much better - he did it professionally! But instead of a snarky comment or criticism, he hears the fluid counterpart of Flynn’s verse.

_“All those days chasing down a daydream_  
All those years living in a blur  
All that time never truly seeing  
Things, the way they were  


_“ Now he's here shining in the starlight_  
Now he's here suddenly I know  
If he's here it's crystal clear  
I'm where I'm meant to go”

Virgil blushes when he notices the pronoun change. Well, if he was being honest with himself he felt like this song pretty accurately described his relationship with Roman, from his life before they met up to how he felt now. They sing the next line together.

_“And at last I see the light”_

Roman leans on the railing of his balcony.  _“And it’s like the fog has lifted”_

_“And at last I see the light”_

Virgil looks out at the fading sunrise.  _“And it’s like the sky is new”_

_“And it's warm and real and bright_  
And the world has somehow shifted  
All at once everything is different  
Now that I see you”

After a moment of calm silence, Roman leans over the edge of his balcony and looks up at Virgil with a grin. “Sadpunzel, Sadpunzel, let down your hair.” Virgil rolls his eyes and smiles. Of course he would joke at a time like this. 

“You have a key, I’m pretty sure it’d be safer and easier to just climb the stairs.” 

Roman pouts and disappears, presumably to come up the stairs to Virgil’s apartment. Virgil laughs softly and heads inside, shutting the glass door gently. He felt like he was living a completely different life now; same face, same apartment, same job, but everything was brighter and kinder and the world was full of more life than Virgil had ever thought it could be. 

_“Now that I see you”_

**Author's Note:**

> fuck Tumblr for making me think of spaghetti all damn day
> 
> Also Virgil going to all that trouble to make sure someone is okay without having to see them face-to-face is such a Mood(tm)
> 
> My headcanon for Virgil’s singing voice is something like the first voice in this video (honestly i just think he’d be slightly higher-pitched than Roman? ((dont listen to the whole thing - flynns voice will give you nightmares)))
> 
> Wow! I was totally just gonna write something painfully short and sweet, but then the idea for their duet came to me and I couldn’t resist. Also, by that point they’ve been dating for... At least five months? Six? Really honestly just A While(tm)
> 
> A little Character Analysis: Roman is singing Somewhere I Belong in the beginning because he’s been having a hard time finding work, and with how flamboyant and amazing he is, many big-city people are put off by him. He has a few good friends, but honestly he feels like a little fish in a big pond, so to speak.


End file.
